Georgia Republicans Push Bill to Force Schools to Out Transgender Children

The Republican-controlled Georgia Senate is trying to pass legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for young people under the age of 18 experiencing gender dysphoria and force school staff to 'out' trans kids to their parents.

The proposed legislation comes in the form of two bills filed in the state chamber on Thursday, namely Senate Bill (SB) 140 and SB 141.

The first was sponsored by Republican State Senator Carden Summers and 21 others, while the second was sponsored by Republican State Senator Clint Dixon and 14 other Republicans, including Summers.

If the two bills pass, teens with a different gender identity than the one assigned to them at birth won't be allowed to receive gender-affirming care in the state of Georgia.

Health providers—including hospital staff as well as school nurses and school officials—would be forbidden from providing gender-affirming surgeries or prescribing medications like hormones or puberty-blocking drugs.

Health providers found in violation of the proposed legislation would be liable to losing their professional license.

"The General Assembly has an obligation to protect children, whose brains and executive functioning are still developing, from undergoing unnecessary and irreversible medical treatment," the text of SB 140 reads.

According to the bill—which remains vague on some terms—exceptions would only be allowed for "for the purpose of sex reassignment where such treatments are deemed medically necessary."

As an example, the bill's text mentions "individuals born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex," including "individuals born with ambiguous genitalia or chromosomal abnormalities."

Under SB 141, which specifically mentions the role of school staff, school nurses and officials, will be legally obliged to notify a student's parents if they report having gender dysphoria.

"No school nurse, counselor, teacher, principal, or other official or staff at a public or private school shall knowingly encourage or coerce a minor to withhold from the minor's parent or legal guardian the fact that the minor's perception of his or her gender is inconsistent with his or her sex," the bill's text reads, "or withhold from a minor's parent or legal guardian information related to the minor's perception that his or her gender is inconsistent with his or her sex."

The Republicans sponsoring the bill asked for it to become effective as of January 1, 2024 if passed.

Neither bill has been sent to a committee yet.

The proposed legislation in Georgia is part of a larger trend that has appeared in several Republican-led states in recent months.

At the start of the year, House State Republicans in West Virginia have introduced a bill that would ban gender-affirming care—including surgery—for trans teenagers under the age of 18.